From Rags To Riches

In a certain city, there lived a peasant called Ratan. He worked for a local landlord who had very kindly provided him a small hut close to the cattle watershed. There he lived and provided for his family with the pittance he received from the landlord.

One day, Ratan told his wife, “Look here, I try hard enough, but I never seem to be able to save even ten paise. If only I had ten paise, then I’ll increase it to a thousand rupees.”

Just then, the landlord was passing by and heard the boast of Ratan. He decided to test Ratan’s claim, so quietly, he dropped a ten paise coin near the trough and walked off. The next morning, while sweeping the ground near the trough, Ratan’s wife found the coin and carried it triumphantly to her husband.

“Here you are,” she said. “The ten paise you’re going to turn into a thousand rupees. Pray, how will you do it?” Ratan quickly pocketed the coin and said simply, “Wait and see.” Then he went to his master and said, “Sir, here is the ten paise coin you must have dropped near the water trough yesterday.”

However, the landlord returned it to Ratan, saying that it was not his and surely belonged to the latter.

Then Ratan went to a pawn shop and told the broker, “Give me a loan of a rupee. As interest, I’ll give you a ten paise. In the evening, I shall return the capital.” The pawn broker gave him a rupee and took the ten paise. Ratan then went to another pawn broker and, giving him the rupee, borrowed ten rupees. These ten rupees were exchanged for a hundred rupees at another shop. To all of them, he promised to return the capital by the evening.

He then hastened to yet another loan shop and said to the broker, “I have measured out all my grain and will receive the money for it only next week. So please give me a thousand rupees and take these hundred rupees as interest.”

Now, the broker knew who Ratan was, having seen him often in the company of the landlord. So without a word, he counted out the thousand rupees in return for the hundred he received as interest.

Ratan, in turn, visited all the shops he had borrowed from and by nightfall had settled all his smaller debts. That night he showed his money to his wife and said, “Here, see all this money! All due to my cleverness.” Then he related how he had come by the amount.

The next morning, he went to a nearby village, which was famous for the quality of its corn. During harvest time, many businessmen would crowd the village market and compete with one another in buying up all the corn. When Ratan arrived, the crops had been harvested and the grains were ready to be sold. He went from farmer to farmer and said he would buy up all the corn, and to back up his words, paid each one substantial amounts as an advance. The news of this bargain spread all over the village and eventually reached the ears of the regular buyers who had come to the village to buy the corn.

They all flocked to Ratan and after a great deal of bargaining, bought all his corn at double the price he had already paid. Thus Ratan made a clean profit of a thousand rupees.

The following day, he cleared his debts and with the balance of money, bought himself a small plot of land suitable for cultivation. He began to till the land himself and soon became as prosperous as his previous master.